This afternoon, during a presentation made by the captain aboard the Norwegian Epic, he revealed news that literally knocked us for a loop.
After he’d revealed earlier that the waves at sea were 50 feet, not the original 30 feet, he said it the roughest seas he’s experienced with this ship but was impressed by how it handled it so well.
If you’ve seen the photos that I posted about the “looks” of this ship, it appears top heavy. Oh, my!
He expressed the reason that he “told us” that the waves were 30 foot swells as opposed to the actual 50 foot waves was to avoid panic by the passengers and crew.
There’s a special station on our cabin TVs, whereby the ship’s navigational stats are updated by the bridge in real time. He’d made a conscious decision not to post the actual statistics as the waves escalated instead sticking with the stats of 65 miles per hour winds and 30 foot waves.
In addition, he didn’t reveal that he intentionally shifted the ballast, gradually increasing it up to 6 degrees, resulting in the ship listing to one side to counteract the waves as they slammed against the ship.
He made the right decision in not revealing these horrible stats. Many passengers would have been extremely distressed with this information. Tom, of course, said he would’ve been fine, but agrees that the captain did the right thing.
On this particular ship, the lifeboats are extended beyond the superstructure of the ship. As the 50 foot waves smashed against the ship, the lifeboats were in danger of damage and flooding. By listing the ship to one side in the direction of the waves, the risk of damage was diminished. The maximum shifting a ship of this size can withstand in 7 degrees.
It’s no wonder we had trouble walking in the hallways, and even in our cabin, as we leaned to one side. I told Tom it reminded me of a “fun house” type room that they had at Knott’s Berry Farm, when I was a kid, when one stepped into this particular room, it was impossible to stand up straight.
That was us, aboard the Norwegian Epic only, tilted to one side, bashing around on unsure footing, empty barf bags all over ready to be used. Some passengers didn’t leave their cabins for three full days, too sick to get out of bed.
I must admit I didn’t work out during that period, but we did go about our days, not missing a meal, attending available evening entertainment (some shows were cancelled) and daytime seminars with few in attendance.
At least we’ve hopefully experienced the worst seas we will experience cruising. Anything less will be quite tolerable. Whew!